GREY EP

 

“My music might not fit anywhere but if you listen close enough, you can see how it can fit everywhere.”

20 year old rapper and producer Kweku Collins is another character blooming among the talented youth in hip-hop born and based in Chicago.

Up to this point he has subsisted in shades of grey. His music slides between abstract poetry and melodic rap over production that extracts elements from several genres; he’s biracial, and he’s from Evanston, Ill., a town that almost lets you say you’re from Chicago. His latest project, the self-produced and aptly titled Grey EP, is actually more metallic, reflecting back an artist on the precipice of something great.

“The mulatto/mutt cliche thing—too white for the black kids, too black for the white kids—and doing white boy shit like skateboarding, but then I say “nigga,” so white people get uncomfortable. But I found that not belonging in one place helped me feel like I could belong in any place.”

Kweku’s tracks are ethereal and honest. At their best they feel like private confessions that are only being relayed to you individually.Grey is rap on its own terms, its name an acknowledgment of Collins’ own self-awareness and further evidence that the misfits can be some of the most liberated among us.

Grey also sees guest features from the likes of Allan Kingdom, Sylvie Grace, and Kipp Stone, who join the Chicago producer on a musical journey that was strongly influenced by his 2016 European tour and the hype that followed after his debut release.

“I can get love from everyone but I’m still going to be here if you hate me. You can’t strive for acceptance. You either like it or you don’t.”

 

The album contains nine new tracks:

1. “Lucky Ones”

2. “Aya” Feat. Allan Kingdom

3. “jump.i”

4. “International Business Trip”

5. “Youaintshit (Shine On)” Feat. Sylvie Grace

6. “Oasis2: Maps”

7. “Things I Know” Feat. Kipp Stone

8. “Dec. 25th”

9. “The Continuation”

 

CHANEL – FRANK OCEAN

 

Ocean’s most shockingly subversive work to date. While the subtext may be lost on the casual listener, the duality of Chanel is quite bluntly addressing Ocean’s bisexuality and the pratfalls of gender expectations therein. “My guy pretty like a girl and he got fight stories to tell,” he begins before brusquely describing a sexual encounter with “one that’s straight acting.”

Fittingly, his most forthright confessional to date is matched by production that is muted, submerging lines of piano beneath layers of reverb and letting his vocals stand front and center; yet another instance of dual identities syncing into one harmonious whole. And while the A$AP Rocky featuring remix that followed shortly after is entertaining, it takes away from the most precious element of what makes Chanel work: this is Frank exposing himself more than he’s ever dared before.

 

My guy pretty like a girl
And he got fight stories to tell
I see both sides like Chanel
See on both sides like Chanel
Swimming laps through pool water
Heated like I'm underworld
Hide my tattoos in Shibuya
Police think I'm of the underworld
12 treat a nigga like he 12
How you looking up to me and talking down?
Can't you see I am the big man? (Big man)
God level I am the I am (whoa)
Now film it with that drone cam
In the pink like Killa Cam
Put a zoom on that stick, Noé
Up so close I'm on that kill
Remote controller on your lower back
Yes the good
Dick could roll the eyes back in the skull
Rolling when you ride, poppin'
Rolling when you ride
Ride the Rodman
Got one that's straight acting
Turnt out like some dirty plastic (Ride)
2016 burnt some discs
2017 ideas playing off a Walkman
This a cult not a clique on the net
With a cup in a cup, Actavis
That's a double edge, "issa knife"
And I don't like to fight 'til I'm fighting
Revenge in the air make my lungs sick
Chopper in the sky like a gun trick
Clips on clips like Mike
It's really all


I see both sides like Chanel
See on both sides like Chanel


It's really you on my mind
It's really you on my mind
It's really you
It's really you on my mind


V both sides of the 12
Steam both sides of the L
Freeze smoke rings and they hail
Sleet snow grind for the wealth
Whole team diamonds is real
Showed 'em how to shine by they selves
You need a cosign for your health
I need that bitch to grind on my belt
I know you need to try for my belt
I know you seen it driving itself
No matte black on the ride 'cause it's stale
But it's stealth


I see both sides like Chanel
I see both sides like Chanel


My pockets snug
They can't hold my 7
They banned my Visa
My Amex and Mastercards
I got new money
And it's all cash
I got new bags
And they all collabs
I rubber band a bunch of thousand dollar Delta gift cards
I mean my baby boy
Amazing the cash online unknown
I mean my baby boy
Blazing the dash counting money at home
My pockets snug
They can't hold my 7
They banned my Visa
My Amex and Mastercards
I got new money
And it's all cash
I got new bags
And they all collabs
I rubber band a bunch of thousand dollar Delta gift cards
I mean my baby boy
Amazing the cash online unknown
I mean by baby boy
Blazing the dash counting money at home

 

STILL FEEL LIKE YOUR MAN

 

Still Feel Like Your Man was released in February, as part of the second wave of songs from Mayer’s seventh album, THE SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING which was released early this April.

 

Besides all the controversy this music video caused for culture appropriation and finally seeing John Mayer dancing for his fans, what do we actually think of the music? (or what Mayer himself would call “Ancient Japanese R&B“)

The song taps into a scintillating R&B groove with lyrics of hope after heartbreak and finding it hard to let his ex go.

I still feel like your man
I still feel
I still feel like your man

The prettiest girl in the room she wants me
I know because she told me so
She says come over
I'd like to get to know you
But I just don't think I can

'Cause I still feel like your man
Still feel like your man
I still feel like your man

I still keep your shampoo in my shower
In case you wanna wash your hair
And I know that you probably found yourself some more somewhere
But I do not really care
'Cause as long as it is there

I still feel like your man
Still feel like your man

Still like the letters in your name and how they feel, babe
Still think I'm never gonna find another you
Still like to leave the party early and go home, babe
And don't you know, babe
I'd rather sit here on my own and be alone, babe

'Cause I still feel like your man
Still feel like your man

CONGRATULATIONS

 

“I think the album in general is kind of, like, lyrically and musically, a reaction to fame and success. We said that it wasn’t going to be, but then we realised that was impossible, because we were just writing songs that were coming from whatever mindset we were in at the time, and the mindset we were in was post year-and-a-half of touring, chaos, like we had been in a tornado of chaos, so we didn’t really know what to do, so we wrote songs that ended up being about that. But they’re also about that pseudo-mystical … bullshit.”

Congratulations, composed of 9 tracks,  has resolved to be everything Oracular Spectacular was not – namely, lacking any kind of easily identifiable hit single. In doing so MGMT has no doubt followed whatever artistic vision they had for themselves, distancing themselves from your classic pop-culture.

Congratulations is not only the name for the album, but for the first track. It simbolizes all the doubts, regrets and uncertainties that came with the popularity and fame they gained. How it is not only strange to them, but not for the reasons they’d want. They are skeptical to accept this fame, because it has come because of the aforementioned ironic facade. It also pokes fun at the petty problems that arise with recognition.

Dead in the water
It's not a paid vacation
The sons and daughters of city officials
Attend demonstrations
It's hardly a sink or swim
When all is well if the ticket sells

Out with a whimper
It's not a blaze of glory
You look down from your temple
As people endeavor to make it a story
And chisel a marble word
But all is lost if it's never heard

But I've got someone to make reports
That tell me how my money's spent
To book my stays and draw my blinds
So I can't tell what's really there
And all I need's a great big congratulations

I'll keep your dreams
You pay attention for me
As strange as it seems
I'd rather dissolve than have you ignore me
The ground may be moving fast
But I tied my boots to a broken mast

The difference is clear
You throw it in your cauldron
Rust and veneer, dusk and dawn
Steinways and Baldwins
You start with a simple stock of all the waste
And salt to taste

But damn my luck and damn these friends
That keep on combing back their smiles
I save my grace with half-assed guilt
And lay down the quilt upon the lawn
Spread my arms and soak up congratulations

ANDROMEDA- GORILLAZ [BONOBO REMIX]

 

“It’s humanz with a Z, which, simply put, [means] we’re in transition. We’re turning into something else. The album came from this dark fantasy that came into my head the beginning of last year, which was imagining the weirdest, unpredictable thing happening that changes everything about the world. How will you feel on that night? How will you go out – will you get drunk, will you stay at home, watch TV, talk to people? I suppose we were imagining Donald Trump. The album’s not about Trump at all, but it was imagining that happening, in a way, that was our dark fantasy. And unfortunately it became reality. It’s a party record, a club record. But it’s got this weird darkness about it.”

Lucky for us, Gorillaz released their first record in six years since 2011’s The Fall. Was it worth the wait? I would say yes: 26 songs with incredible feauturing artists including Grace Jones, D.R.A.M., Pusha T, Danny Brown, Keela and Benjamin Clementine.

More so, because of this gem- a remix by British DJ Bonobo.

The title Andromeda is inspired by the name of a club Albarn went to as a teenager on Friday nights to hear soul music, and Albarn’s recently deceased mother-in-law Ethel, who was interested in astronomy. The song is dedicated to Ethel, and was written during her illness. During the process, Albarn began to reminisce on “all these beautiful people I’d known who passed away,” including Bobby Womack, who collaborated with Albarn on the 2010 Gorillaz album Plastic Beach.

When the pulsing looks to die for
Take it in your heart now, lover
When the case is out
And tired and sodden
Take it in your heart

Back to when it was cool

Take it in your heart, heart, heart, heart
Take it in your heart now, lover

Outside, cold and ghosting out with jet lag
I took it to the right man
Took it all back
When the courts were closing
It was Bobby gracing
I know that
A bullet to the right man
He pulled it back

Caught in your eyes
Stacks of lights
Come streaming back
Make it for the best times
Growing pains, good times
Good times, good times

Take it in your heart, heart, heart, heart
Take it in your heart now, lover

Where it all went down